Less than half of enterprises submitted EKOMAR in time

EKOMAR is the most extensive and important statistical activity covering annual data, based on which Statistics Estonia compiles overviews on entrepreneurship and receives an input to assess economic growth. If an enterprise submits its annual report to the Commercial Register, then based on that report 80% of the enterprise’s EKOMAR questionnaire is already pre-filled for Statistics Estonia; so far it has been possible to use pre-filling in the case of 88% of the respondents. Despite that, less than half of enterprises submitted the EKOMAR questionnaire by the deadline. The low data submission rate has forced Statistics Estonia to start considering imposing a penalty payment on enterprises failing to submit their data.

“I would like to thank all the enterprises who submitted their EKOMAR questionnaire by the deadline,” said Andres Oopkaup, Director General of Statistics Estonia. “The task of Statistics Estonia is to provide reliable and objective information about Estonia,” he explained. “The sooner data collection ends, the sooner data processing and analysis of statistics can begin and the sooner decision-makers get the information they need to make fact-based decisions,” he said. “Post-deadline data collection increases the submission percentage to 70, but it is a time- and resource-intensive process both for the respondents and for those collecting the data,” he noted.

“I hope that enterprises understand that the goal of Statistics Estonia is to obtain data on time in order to produce statistics and that, when it comes to measures for improving receipt of questionnaires, imposing a penalty payment is the last resort, used in extreme situations,” Oopkaup explained in the meeting with representatives of enterprises on 6 July. “I want to stress that if we do reach a point where we are forced to impose a penalty payment then Statistics Estonia will not get the money for its own use, the money will go into the state budget and therefore penalty payments are not a source of income for Statistics Estonia,” he noted.

In the case of the EKOMAR questionnaire, penalty payments may be imposed only when, after several reminders (three and seven days after submission deadline), a phone call from the Director General and extending the deadline, the data have still not been submitted. “If the entrepreneur has substantial obstacles to submitting data in time, we have always been able to find a new deadline that is acceptable for both sides,” Oopkaup explained.

Receipt of EKOMAR, 2016

Economic activity	Questionnaire	Submission deadline	Enterprises subject to submitting	Submitted in time, %
Technical testing and analysis	EKOMAR M712S	1 July	30	30
Advertising	EKOMAR M731s	1 July	119	33
Manufacturing, energy and water supply	EKOMAR B-E s	4 July	1 670	45
Retail trade	EKOMAR G47s	5 July	668	42
Computer programming, consultancy and related activities	EKOMAR J62s	5 July	235	47
Postal activities, accommodation and food service activities, education, veterinary activities, human health activities, entertainment	EKOMAR IH53P-Q	5 July	960	41
Wholesale trade	EKOMAR G46s	6 July	793	47
Transportation	EKOMAR H49s	6 July	400	43
Construction	EKOMAR F41s	7 July	877	39
Wholesale, retail trade and repair of motor vehicles	EKOMAR G45s	7 July	252	43
Market research	EKOMAR M732S	7 July	14	64
Architectural and engineering activities	EKOMAR M711S	7 July	115	46
Employment activities	EKOMAR N78s	7 July	112	36
Warehousing, publishing, broadcasting, telecommunications, real estate activities, professional and scientific activities, administrative activities, other service activities	EKOMAR H52_Ns	8 July	1 701	46
TOTAL			7 946	44